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one of my earliest memories is of helping my uncle collect the roots of sassafras shrubs for making tea. He loved his sassafras tea, and it was a taste I soon acquired. He also taught me to pick the tender young leaves and chew them as a thirst quencher while we foraged in the woods for mushrooms and other late spring delicacies. It was not until much later, though, that I discovered sassafras was more than a shrub, that it would grow big enough I southern part of its native range from Virginia to Arkansas (see the photo at left). Although not common, examples of this species that approach 100 ft. tall and 4 ft. dia. do exist. to From beverage to cooperage Sassafras is a member of the laurel family, Lauraceae. There are only three species in the Sassafras genus: One grows in central China and another in Taiwan, but only our native species, cial significance. Like other members of the laurel family such as cinnamon, bay and camphor, sassafras produces a natural oil, which has a fragrant, spicy odor. When the first explorers arrived along the East Coast of what is now the United States, they were quick to recognize the commercial potential of sassafras, and ship- S. Sassafras is easily identified Its leaves take three distinct shapes (boat-shaped, mitten-shaped and three-lobed), often on the same tree. In winter, it's recognizable for its branches, which grow nearly perpendicular from the trunk. Little more than a shrub in northern states, sassafms is a respectable timber tt·ee farther south in its native range. - Sassafras Fragrant wood that works sweetly, too by Jon Arno 64 Fine Woodworking PhOlO d1is page: Peler Del Tredici alhidum, is of commerbe a timber tree down in the 've known about sassafras since my childhood, growing up in the wooded hills of south-central Michigan. In fact,